Obama taps the New Mexico governor for his Secretary of Commerce.
His remarks this morning, from Change.gov:
“Bill has never been content to learn just from briefing books — never satisfied with only the official version of the story. During his time in Congress, he held more than 2,500 town-hall meetings, so he could hear directly from constituents. He was a regular in the U.N. cafeteria, mixing it up with U.N. employees over lunch. And during his 2002 campaign for Governor, he actually broke a world record by shaking nearly 14,000 hands in just eight hours.
All of this reflects a determination to reach out and understand where people are coming from, what they hope for, and what he can do to help. This approach, I believe, has been the key to Bill’s success as a negotiator and will be key to his work on the critical functions of the Commerce Department — from administering our census and monitoring our climate to protecting our intellectual property and restoring our economic diplomacy.
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Blogger Grumpy Old Man (a registered Republican) likes the pick:
“After thinking about it, I agree that Bill is a good pick. It signals that we will be refocusing our business and trade agreements with Latin America, an area that has languished while the focus has been on the Middle East. China, Brazil, and Russia have formed an economic alliance, and we will need to address those spheres of influence.”
But Alex Conant of the RNC proved more contrary:
“Nothing says change like picking the Clinton administration’s energy secretary and UN representative to be commerce secretary.”
I think my favorite story about the Obama-Richardson debate is this one, in Richardson’s words as recounted on Daily Kos:
“I had just been asked a question — I don’t remember which one — and Obama was sitting right next to me. Then the moderator went across the room, I think to Chris Dodd, so I thought I was home free for a while. I wasn’t going to listen to the next question. I was about to say something to Obama when the moderator turned to me and said, ‘So, Gov. Richardson, what do you think of that?’ But I wasn’t paying any attention! I was about to say, ‘Could you repeat the question? I wasn’t listening.’ But I wasn’t about to say I wasn’t listening. I looked at Obama. I was just horrified. And Obama whispered, ‘Katrina. Katrina.’ The question was on Katrina! So I said, ‘On Katrina, my policy . . .’ Obama could have just thrown me under the bus. So I said, ‘Obama, that was good of you to do that.’”
